Framedlight

Many of the residents of St Kilda were evacuated to the small village of Lochaline on mainland Scotland, and so Neil had thought it appropriate for us to spend our last night on Zuza moored up to the jetty in this rather strange place. We came into Locahline around 6.00pm and, needing to stretch our legs before dinner, Alan and I had a walk up the shoreline as there is a footpath that goes all the way around the edge of the loch. The plan was to meet at the community bar for a drink before going back to the yacht. The path had a steep bank on the landward side, thick with vegetation. The high bank and vegetation disguises a very large silica dioxide (SiO2) mine which has been here since 1940, producing high grade silica for optical glass. The mine closed in 2008 but reopened in 2012 and so mining still continues today, There were some relics of past times along the side of the footpath. We retraced our steps and walked the other way towards the pub and found that we were next to more m...